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It’s somewhat surprising that we don’t have a bottle trap object in the standard library so, given that I do a fair amount of residential work where people do want to see as much detail as possible, it was time to stop slapping primitives shapes together.

The object itself is fairly simple with four common types of traps including a simple bend.

There are hotspots in 2D to adjust the diameters of the trap and the drain pipe as well as its horizontal length. 3D hotspots allow stretching or shrinking of the horizontal and vertical pipes. There are reasonable max and min limits to these lengths.

The settings are relatively basic but there are not a lot of permutations and combinations one can have here, so I think they should be sufficient. However, as always, suggestions are welcome.

A couple of months ago, I was telling you about a free download of David Nicholson-Cole’s “GDL Cookbook 3” and saying how I was looking forward to the updated version. Well it’s out and it’s a free download as well. You can get it either as a single concatenated file or as 48 individual chapters. Alongside, you can also get his brilliant “Introduction to Object Making”.

This is was a plugin that worked as a 3D object editor within ArchiCAD 9 but was never updated for v.10 – or so we thought. In fact, the original link referred to in an older post – [[gdl toolbox – freeware]] doesn’t work any more. Just when I’ve started to learn GDL, one of the finest tools made for it is no longer usable. Unless you know Hungarian.

If only all manufacturers were as concerned about having their products accurately and easily inserted into CAD drawings. Marvin sets the standard by giving architects not just basic 2D drawings (dwg and dxf) but 3D symbols for ArchiCAD, ADT, SoftPlan, Chief Architect, Home Designer and SketchUp!

About

Vistasp Mehta is a Mumbai-based architect working on sustainable design, with a special emphasis on energy and water conservation. Other obsessions include art, history, technology, wildlife and photography.